Document Actions

The activist media "Dissident Voice" quotes MindFreedom about President Bush and the USA mental health system.

Let’s Go Crazy: The Decline in US Mental Health Under Bush

Date Published:

Feb 11, 2007 01:00 AM

Author:
Heather Woksuch

Source:
Dissident Voice

Factors linked with mental illness (including poverty, homelessness,
violence and social uncertainty) have run rampant during the Bush years
while psychiatric treatment options have disappeared.

Nowhere has this trend been more prevalent -- and more heartbreaking
- than with Katrina survivors and veterans of Bush’s wars.

Suicide levels in the Big Easy soared 300% in the four months following
Katrina, and hurricane-related mental disorders remain widespread
today. Yet with hospitals still shuttered and psychiatric clinics
closed, those suffering from chronic mental illnesses or post-Katrina
depression and post-traumatic stress disorder have few options. A
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey found that while 26%
of respondents reported at least one family member needing mental
health support following Katrina, less than 2% was receiving any.

New Orleans’ mental health crisis exacerbates its already debilitating
crime rate, with police reporting a 15% higher incidence of
psychiatric-related emergency calls than before Katrina. But instead of
receiving treatment, many of the mentally ill end up in local prisons
-- a trend repeated across the country.

In Florida, for example, over 250 prisoners who should have been
transferred to state mental hospitals languish in prisons unequipped to
handle their special needs. As The St. Petersburg Times reported last
month, mentally-ill inmates "play poker with ghosts, climb the bars
like bats or dump their lunch trays into the toilet and eat the food
like soup. They will slam their heads against the wall, slice
themselves with razors or plunge head-first off their bunks onto the
concrete floor." With no psychiatric beds available due to funding
cutbacks, inmates charged with only misdemeanors end up deteriorating
in jails one Floridian official called "a dumping ground for the
mentally ill." Veterans face a similar lack of support. An estimated
one out of every five service members returning from Iraq suffers from
psychiatric problems and, with a backlog of 400,000 cases, the
Department of Veterans Affairs has proven incapable of handling the
deluge. Veterans subsequently have to wait an average of five and a
half months for an initial decision on disability benefits and an
appeal can take years.

That’s not supporting our troops.

The number of veterans trying to get mental health support doubled to
9,103 between October 2005 and June 2006. The Government Accountability
Office recently found, however, that most who show symptoms of
post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are not referred for treatment,
no doubt due to the VA’s lack of capacity to meet demand.

Considering that combat PTSD can take years to surface and that over a
million troops have been deployed, it’s safe to say the US will soon be
facing a mental health crisis of ominous proportions.

After the Vietnam War, tens of thousands of veterans either committed
suicide, became drug addicts or ended up on the streets. Today, the
National Coalition for Homeless Veterans reports that almost 200,000
veterans are homeless each night, roughly one in three adult homeless
males. Half of today’s homeless vets suffer from substance abuse
problems and 45% from mental illness. Yet the administration continues
to fund military escalation instead of providing them with shelter and
treatment.

The psychiatric needs of active-duty service members have also been
ignored. A tragic example is Steven Green, the former Army private
charged in the March 2006 murder of an Iraqi family and the rape/murder
of their 14-year-old daughter. In December 2005, Green tried to get
help from an Army Combat Stress Team in Iraq, claiming that he was
enraged and wanted to kill Iraqi citizens. Doctors diagnosed Green with
"homicidal ideations," gave him a psychoactive drug, told him to rest
-- and sent him back to fight. It took Army mental health officials a
full three months to contact Green again (over a week after the family
had been murdered) due to reports he had thrown a puppy off a roof and
set its body on fire.

It’s safe to say that many other US service members are like Green,
walking time bombs in desperate need of psychiatric care they may never
receive.

Bush has, unfortunately, been pro-active in one mental health area: the
push for mandatory screening of US citizens. In April 2002, Bush set up
the New Freedom Commission on Mental Health, ostensibly to "eliminate
inequality for Americans with disabilities" but whose recommendations
include broad-based mental health screening for US adults/children and
the prescription of psychoactive medication. Civil rights advocates
fear the disturbing implications of comprehensive mandatory
psychological testing and therapists question the Commission’s emphasis
on psychiatric drugs over other forms of therapy.

Put bluntly, big-donor pharmaceutical companies are slated to profit at the expense of US citizens’ rights.

David Oaks, Director of the advocacy group MindFreedom International,
had this to say about the administration’s screening plans: "President
Bush wants to test all Americans for 'mental illness.' We demand that
President Bush start with himself first. We will provide the mental
health professional to do the screening." Virginia-based physician
Patch Adams even volunteered to screen Bush, adding, "He needs a lot of
help. I'll see him for free."

The National Alliance on Mental Illness recently conducted an analysis
of mental health care systems across the US, incorporating factors such
as infrastructure and information access. The national average grade
was D, a shameful record for such a wealthy nation. Factoring in the
long-term psychiatric implications of Bush’s ongoing military
adventurism, the future looks even worse. That is for everyone but
pharmaceutical companies.

Action Ideas

1. Visit the National Alliance on Mental Illness site (www.nami.org)
for information on everything from "Public Education and Information
Activities" to "Advocacy on Behalf of People Living with Mental
Illness." Find out how your state ranks on mental health care and
consider signing up for their fundraising walks. Also check out the
terrific MindFreedom International site (www.mindfreedom.org) dedicated
to "defending human rights and promoting humane alternatives in mental
health."

2. Urge your congressmembers to provide more mental-health support to those hit by Katrina.

3. Learn about the plight of homeless veterans at the National
Coalition of Homeless Veterans site (www.nchv.org), which offers
legislation information, support for homeless veterans and service
providers and opportunities to get involved.

Heather Wokusch is a freelance writer and author of the two-volume
series The Progressives' Handbook: Get the Facts and Make a Difference
Now. This article is partially excerpted from Volume I. For more Action
Ideas or to learn more about The Progressives' Handbook series, visit
www.progressiveshandbook.com. Heather can also be reached via
www.heatherwokusch.com.

Give securely online and indicate if you have a preferred campaign that you'd like to support with your donation!

We are MFI

Tsuyoshi Matsuo, MD, chair of MindFreedom Japan affiliate

Tsuyoshi Matsuo is a physician who worked in a psychiatric institution in Japan for four years and witnessed how terribly the patients are treated. Dr. Matsuo said he was glad to be an MFI member, "Because I believe MFI is trying to straighten out the mental health system which is insane. I'm proud to be part of the movement to straighten it out!"